The Level Lifter Challenge - A MathFactLab Game

The Level Lifter Challenge: A Fun Team-Based MathFactLab Game

To add a little competitive excitement to MathFactLab sessions, my students compete each day in a game we call the 'Level Lifter Challenge'.

It's a very simple game:

1. On the whiteboard or on an easel, draw a T-chart headed with the name of each class or group.
2. When students level up (pass a Level Lifter), they put a tally under their class' or group's name on the T-chart.
3. The class/group with the most level-ups wins.

If you teach just one class, you could divide the class into teams or set a whole-class goal to reach. If you teach multiple classes, you can have them compete (as I do) against each other. Competition can run on a daily or weekly basis.

When I run it, the winning class each day earns two minutes toward an end-of-week bonus recess, but any small prize will do. (In truth, the competition itself gets the students more excited than the prize.)

What I particularly like about this game is that the goal is growth, and the students encourage each other's success. This past year, my classes were so into the game that whenever anyone leveled up, the whole class would clap.

This article was written by Mike Kenny, founder of MathFactLab and fifth-grade teacher.